It's interesting how events converge in our lives. I just got accepted to take my first master's level class from a group called Pro-META. It turns out that they use an open-source environment for distance education called Moodle. I had never heard of Moodle until this week, and lo and behold, a missionary with ABWE who is in charge of distance education with the mission came through Bogotá this weekend and explained what the future will look like for theological education around the ABWE world. Talk about exciting!
We will be using the Moodle environment to facilitate distance education. The classes are super-dynamic... so far they have one class done in Spanish, but they are working in eight different languages. With this system we will be able to offer quality theological education to people throughout Colombia. Imagine, we could be training pastors in many cities of Colombia at the same time, even while we are on furlough ministry. The ABWE school is called Horizon International Schools.
About Me
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Missionaries face difficult dilemmas. One of the hardest is knowing when it's time to move on to a different ministry, or if it's better to stay on strengthening the ministry in which you are serving. I mention this because the Lord continues to burden me for other parts of Colombia. We had a meeting with the men of our field team to talk about our church planting strategy and other possible locations for ministry in Colombia. Talk about exciting to think about!
We could go to the coffee region of Colombia in the west-central part of the country. Everyone I talk to says there is a huge need there. Armenia has 315,000 people; Manizales 357,000; Ibague 421,000; and Pereira 521,000. They hardly have any sound churches. The majority of the supposedly "evangelical" churches have drifted into charismatic practices, have women pastors, etc.
On the other hand, it's not like we can just take off and leave. Important ministries remain in the Bogota area. We need to make sure the seminary has qualified teachers, and that the camp continues to function.
I've advocated that we need to lift up our eyes and look on the fields... and then send a new team out to one of these needy areas. Of course there will be challenges to continue strengthening the ministries here in Bogota, but I think that God will bless our faith and planning if we purpose to branch out. If we don't look outward, I'm a little concerned about what could happen in the future. The words of Paul still challenge us: "And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation" (Rom. 15:20).